Bestmark pays timely, but they are not user-friendly in terms of unreasonable pay deductions and the lack of user-friendly reqirements on auto shops. The typical auto shop takes about 2 hours to do it justice, and then there is a horribly long report in which they ask a number of questions and then demand that you repeat those response in summary form. They then go on to deduct pay for chicken-s--t deductions for so-called incomplete information. When you follow up with the allegedly missing info, they deuct points even though you repond promptly. The main offender is Jackie Theriault, who is an evaluator. Because of all this garbage, I cancelled my exiating outstanding shops and will not accept any more from this MSC. Be forewarned!!

They have their good and bad sides no doubt. What kind of auto shop took 2 hours?! I've never had any take that long even when they require a test drive. With Bestmark I've had sales shops that take 20 to 30 minutes tops and about 15 on the report or and oil change at my dealership that maybe took a little longer (I would have been there anyway) and took less than 10 minutes for the report. For the oil change I think a lot of the report was filled in while I was waiting.

Certainly not my favorite company to work with but not ogres either. I haven't done much with them in quite a while because their pay is low for expectations, but I've had no deductions either.

Hi Lisa

The auto shops I'm referring to involve calling or inputing on the internet and then going in to see how a sales experience goes dowm. It takes more time for an auto shop as opposed to simply going in for auto servise, like an oil change or some routine maintenance. Hope this gives you some perspective.

I can understand that you would want to pose as a serious buyer and all that, but there also is that point at which you match the fee to the work. At one time I gave Bestmark visits and reports my all and personally felt robbed. If I do them now, they get a good and honest and accurate report but no bells and whistles they are not paying for.

Flash

It sounds like we are on the same track with our opinions about Bestmark. I have told Bestmark that I will not be taking any future shops under the circumstances listed above, and barring somthing unforeseen, I will continue to do so.

I don't bother telling them. No point in showing 'attitude' to a wall. I just pick and choose and they can make their own assumptions why I will or will not do some jobs. They write the contract and set the fee and if they fail to make the experience interesting and worthwhile for me they can just keep dialing for dollars.

Gee eltonj ... Tells us how you really feel.
I don't do best mark anymore. They ask for two evals in one visit and don't pay squat for two separate reports. They never reimbursed me for a required purchase so I've said adios awhile ago.

I still don't see that as a 2 hour shop even if it involved a test drive. Did it? Without a test drive should normally be in the 30 minute range and with certainly shouldn't average over an hour. I've had dealership shops with Bestmark and the absolute longest was a half hour. I can't stand a chatty salesperson, but if they get off track I steer them back to the matter at hand. I probably should have asked if this was your first auto dealership. Like any shop my early ones were definitely longer. Since then with my own confidence built and having received some sage advice, they are not that tedious.

BTW, I do agree that Bestmark does not offer enough pay on any shop to justify that kind of time!

I've done a few of those shops with BestMark. They weren't too bad, and I think I was out the dealership's doors in under 45 minutes in all cases, even when I did take a test drive. I will say I probably did spend too long working on the post-shop report, and that's what made those shops not really worth it for me. I should maybe take Flash's advice and ease off on the amount of work I put in for the ridiculously long BestMark forms. Writing a full essay for each comment section is a bit unreasonable.

Editors might be different now but in the past with one client no negatives were ever allowed. No sense in giving honesty in the report if they only want 100% positive. That store is now out of business... wonder why!

I will only a couple oil change shops for them a year now when my car is due. Otherwise, I don't bother with them. Their report requirements are ridiculously time consuming for such low pay for most assignments in my area.

Sean the Shopper

Lisa--My last auto shop took more than two hours. And that was without a test drive. I had to let the guy cover everything I knew would be in the report and show interest until the end. As a result, I had to let him go on and on and on. Thought I would eat my young. LOL. Just did another auto shop for another MSC. Took over an hour. Again, similar scenario. Problem with this one, none of the cars had gas. We had to stop and fill her up! OMG. But, the associate was very good and it wasn't his fault the cars weren't tended to properly, so I had to go along. Pissed me off. In both cases, the reports were tedious. The one for BM more so than this other.



LisaSTL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I still don't see that as a 2 hour shop even if it
> involved a test drive. Did it? Without a test
> drive should normally be in the 30 minute range
> and with certainly shouldn't average over an hour.
> I've had dealership shops with Bestmark and the
> absolute longest was a half hour. I can't stand a
> chatty salesperson, but if they get off track I
> steer them back to the matter at hand. I probably
> should have asked if this was your first auto
> dealership. Like any shop my early ones were
> definitely longer. Since then with my own
> confidence built and having received some sage
> advice, they are not that tedious.
>
> BTW, I do agree that Bestmark does not offer
> enough pay on any shop to justify that kind of
> time!

Either those are the most in-depth reports ever or the sales people are really long-winded or desperate. That's when I love a question like, "would you return?" I'm honest and just say no since the salesperson did not respect my time

problem is..as a "prospective buyer" I couldn't find fault...I couldn't find any fault. If I was buying a $35,000 car in one case, a $50,000 car in the other, I'd want and expect all the information. Now, as a shopper....geeeze. what a waste. However, I don't see how I can say either didn't respect my time. And...don't remember how long the BM report took. The one I just did took about 30 minutes. So, not counting travel,I earned $25 in a little under 2 hours. The travel was another 30 minutes each way, but I had other shops to do as well.

CANADAMOMMY Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Editors might be different now but in the past
> with one client no negatives were ever allowed. No
> sense in giving honesty in the report if they only
> want 100% positive. That store is now out of
> business... wonder why!

I don't think I'd do a shop for any MSC if I was not allowed to be honest. I'm a generally positive person, but I do tell things as they are, and if that means I need to say something negative, I will do so -- respectfully, of course. Taking away the right to be truthful defeats the whole purpose of shopping.

I've done one auto dealer for BM, did not require a test drive. I probably spent over an hour on-site, and another doing the report. But I coulda done both quicker, I guess, except for the fact that I actually liked the car and want to buy one. Also, in the same week, I picked up an auto dealer website review for a few more $, which was one of the easiest jobs I've done. And both paid quickly. So I got no complaints about BestMark.

I picked up a simple e-mail inquiry and a simple phone call assignment. They only paid $3 but took only 10 minutes. I guess that is still pretty low. Probably will not do them again. I did have to pose as a new car buyer. I don't think that is really dishonest.

In all fairness, Bestmark has paid promptly. However, the deductions were unjustified, which is the doing of the evaluator, even though I followed up with needed info, I still got the deductions, and on top of the cheesy base amount offered, did not make it worth thr time.

Another thing. I took about 2 hours on the shops because I wanted to see about getting another car. Nonetheless, my evaluation was fair and honest, and objective as well.

Be prepared to be spammed with email and phone calls! I did one for them and did not leave my #- a week later started getting spammed with calls from the salesman, who flat out admitted to me that they take your number off the caller id! After the 5th call I got peeved and called and spoke to the GM, who absolutely could have cared less. I finally had to threaten legal action to get them to stop calling me! I am still getting emails from someone I "shopped" about a year ago. I just delete them.
beatlesfan1964 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I picked up a simple e-mail inquiry and a simple
> phone call assignment. They only paid $3 but took
> only 10 minutes. I guess that is still pretty
> low. Probably will not do them again. I did have
> to pose as a new car buyer. I don't think that is
> really dishonest.

Dial *67 before placing your call and it will defeat most caller ID systems.

Jaosmom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Be prepared to be spammed with email and phone
> calls!

Careful use of email filters and a Google Voice phone number will easily take care of those problems.

Google Voice is an especially useful tool because you get a permanent record of each and every voice mail ever received, and you can add text notes to your log, which is great if you ever need to refer back to anything. I use it for outgoing calls sometimes, too, because then I have a record of the call times and durations in my call log as well. Great tool, and it keeps me from having to screen calls on my cell phone from folks with whom I have no interest in communicating outside of the context of a shop.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/10/2012 09:26AM by Omgee.

It really depends on what you're doing. I do a farm store for them. I have chickens. They pay a $15 reimbursement and a $5 report fee, so I get my free bag of chicken feed and a little cash for reporting about it. I'm good with that. It's any easy shop (except for the whole no nametag thing) that I can have done in 15 min. and about 15 for the report. I'm signed up with the MSC that does their competitor. They pay a $10 fee with a required non-reimbursed purchase. So comparing the two, Bestmark wins! I did one shop for the competitor (a store I actually prefer) and decided they were just too cheap and I wouldn't do another one.


eltonj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Bestmark pays timely, but they are not
> user-friendly in terms of unreasonable pay
> deductions and the lack of user-friendly
> reqirements on auto shops. The typical auto shop
> takes about 2 hours to do it justice, and then
> there is a horribly long report in which they ask
> a number of questions and then demand that you
> repeat those response in summary form. They then
> go on to deduct pay for chicken-s--t deductions
> for so-called incomplete information. When you
> follow up with the allegedly missing info, they
> deuct points even though you repond promptly. The
> main offender is Jackie Theriault, who is an
> evaluator. Because of all this garbage, I
> cancelled my exiating outstanding shops and will
> not accept any more from this MSC. Be
> forewarned!!

Elton, I'm confused because in your original post you say, "The typical auto shop takes about 2 hours to do it justice", but in a later post you say, "I took about 2 hours on the shops because I wanted to see about getting another car." So I guess it typically takes that long when you are conducting personal business as well?

I don't do much work for Bestmark due to their low fees but I've done a few dealership shops and found them to be fairly straightforward and had no issues with corrections or deductions.

Brak

There is not a conflict between the two statements because I asid it takes about 2 hours to do the shops. It isn't exactly personal business because while I'm on the shop I want to see what autos are available, and this is simply seeing what info is available while I'm shopping anyway. I try to do a good job for the MSC. However, the form is very demanding since it takes about an hour or so to complete, plus 2 hours to do the on-site shop. It is therefore not cost effective to spend 3 hours for the $17 paid. When unreasonable deductions are made as well for nit-picky reasons it becomes even less cost effective. Other MSC's ask for corrections but don't deduct pay when doing so. They may give a lower score, but don't deduct pay. The shops are not overly complicated or such. My complaint is mainly about the unreasnable deductions. I have done some auto shops for Bestmark without any deductions, believe it or not. Perhaps the particular evaluator was the "fly in the ointment". I completed those other auto shops in a similar manner without deductions. The bottom line is that there are plenty of MSC's that are much more user-friendly, so who needs Bestmark.

Okay. I received an e-mail outling what alleged wrongs I did. Here is the exact text. See what eveybody thinks.

I am a Quality Editor at BestMark, and I have just completed editing your recent report. Thank you for taking the time to perform this shop and complete the survey form. Unfortunately, I have to inform you that a deduction will be made from your payment for this shop.



The reason for the $4.50 deduction is that your narrative was not thorough or detailed enough and required substantial additions/enhancements via email, plus much of the narrative that you original had included a lot of wording from the survey questions and had to be rewritten before sending to the client.



Your survey was not thorough. On these surveys, please be sure to include enough information to justify the scores that your gave. There are often two or more questions/scores that need to be justified in the narrative block. Your commentary can include facts and feelings about the POSITIVE and the NEGATIVE aspects of your shop. The narrative should include both the facts of what happened, in story format, and what was said by the associate (and sometimes you, depending on the survey question). Include the greeting and closing statements of any employee you evaluate. EVERY score that is not top block must be addressed in the narrative. Please look at the sample survey before performing the shop to see how much narrative we expect and for the tone of each type of survey.



Interactions between you and the associate are best provided in your own words and must reflect the unique interaction during that shop. Please do not just use examples or wording from the survey itself for your narrative. Do not copy the wording from the sample survey. Do not use verbiage from internet sites.



Please stay in one verb tense throughout the narrative. Past tense usually works best and is mandatory in some surveys (Best Buy electronics, for example). You sometimes switched between past and present tense.



If you have any questions regarding the information in this email or about other shop requirements, please contact your dispatcher at the BestMark offices.



Thank you.




Quality Editor

BestMark, Inc.


Never mind that I did a few other autoshops for Bestmark and received NO deductions. Again, I think the evaluator is the problem, although I could be wrong. Render your opinions.

That is bizarre and a $4.50 deduction is ridiculous. So net pay is a whopping $13.50. I find the questions to cover so much that I rarely write more than a few sentences in the comment box. After all these are $15 to $17 shops and now it sounds like they want $50 worth of value.

My question is why would anyone in their right mind do a car shop for such a low remuneration? You are dealing with a car dealership. It is a complete waste of time and money. I won't touch these shops unless I see at least $50. I have never seen that amount so I am assuming that they do find people doing it for such a low amount.

Actually I've seen them (and taken them) at $50 on occasion and it was the car shop that originally had a lower fee than this. Quick, painless shop and simple report. I don't understand these at all.

Omgee--how does Google voice work--if you don't mind sharing this. I would love to know. I am not from the techie generation (think groovy and far out man) and am always leary--unless my son sets me up--but willing.

Omgee Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Jaosmom Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Be prepared to be spammed with email and phone
> > calls!
>
> Careful use of email filters and a Google Voice
> phone number will easily take care of those
> problems.
>
> Google Voice is an especially useful tool because
> you get a permanent record of each and every voice
> mail ever received, and you can add text notes to
> your log, which is great if you ever need to refer
> back to anything. I use it for outgoing calls
> sometimes, too, because then I have a record of
> the call times and durations in my call log as
> well. Great tool, and it keeps me from having to
> screen calls on my cell phone from folks with whom
> I have no interest in communicating outside of the
> context of a shop.